045What’s the first thing that
comes to mind when you hear
someone say exterior lighting? Road lights?
Parks? Squares? Businesses? A façade? Or a
town centre? Maybe it’s all the above. You
might think more in the line of perception,
attractiveness, security and safety. In that
later case I suspect you are likely a lighting
designer and maybe also experienced with
urban lighting design.
Appropriate lighting is one aspect that can
provide significant benefits by enhancing the
aesthetic value and perception of the urban
environment. As lighting designers working in
the public space, we have an important role
not just for safety and security but as well
for helping to create attractive spaces.
An important thing to remember is that
the most fundamental part of lighting
is the knowledge that lighting triggers
feelings; that lighting is accompanied by the
perceived attributes of people that elicit
certain emotional reactions: preference,
interest, comfort and safety etc. In exterior
design we must show great care since our
design affects both the feeling of safety and
the actual security of people, we need not
forget the importance of design between the
need for function and energy reduction etc.
Outdoor lighting has always been needed
to create security and help people to read
the environment around them. But a classic
way to illuminate the urban environment
has been with a focus on traffic. Hence
illumination has focused on roads or paths in
parks. This however, is far from optimal and
far from a holistic approach when designing
an urban environment, something which is
definitely needed. Lighting solutions are
important, but equally important is the
relation to different things that light can be
reflected on, enhance, or obscure. If one
gains the interaction between light and, for
example, materials, house walls and road
markings, it becomes easier for people to
read and understand the environment and
adapt their movements. Studies show that
we perceive a vertically lit area brighter
than a horizontal one even though they have
the same amount of light on them. When
landmarks and details are illuminated it
becomes easier to form a relationship with
the place, there is a sense of recognition;
“there is that building”, “there is the
pergola”, instead of the walkway only being
a transport route. The emotional state that
accompanies recognition contributes to
increased security.
It’s very important to realise and remember
that calculated results and illuminationtables doesn’t tell the full story of how
bright it gets and certainly not how it will
be perceived. Too many factors affect
the design of the area and the lighting,
something a computer can’t factor in, so I
fully rely on my visual sense!
For my colleagues and I, we see no
difference between function and decoration,
they aren’t opposites. Decorative lighting
can with no problem be functional as well,
it’s a matter of knowledge of the planner.
The aesthetics are about adapting the
lighting to harmonise or enhance the style of
the place, for example the playfulness in a
playground or the welcoming feel of a town
square.
To provide some examples in this article,
we see a park from the north of Sweden
called The Hedalundadungen (pictured
top left). The lighting design is based on
the key words pine and pine cone in the
centre. Several trees have therefore been
decorated with large illuminated spheres
that collect inspiration from the pine cone.
Great emphasis has also been put on getting
the park to feel safe and welcoming with
good visual comfort. Much of the lighting
has therefore been integrated into the play
equipment to create an even and inviting
light and to avoid the feeling of a backdrop.Inside Out
Kim Höglund, Department Head of Lighting Design at Tyréns, Sweden,
discusses how exterior lighting design can be decorative yet functional and
how, as a lighting designer, this should always be the main goal.